The record crowd of 118,402 at last week's Preakness witnessed a problem with Barbaro. It took a renowned staff of Penn employees to find a solution.
Or at the very least, find hope for one.
The thoroughbred colt, who turned in what one announcer called a "sublime performance" earlier this year in winning the Kentucky Derby, required medical attention after taking a bad step in the early furlongs of the Preakness. Barbaro, it was soon discovered, sustained a career-ending and possibly life-threatening leg injury. The horse pulled up in front of a horrified audience, holding its injured ankle gingerly and raising serious questions about the horses' future.
Enter the Penn Veterinary School's New Bolton Center.
The hospital, located almost an hour's drive from Penn's campus in Philadelphia, is tucked away in Chester County, Pa., on a piece of farmland that Penn acquired in 1952.
Since then, the center has been a pioneer in the field of animal health care and has firmly established itself as the premier equine care facility in the world.
And the most attention comes from right here on the east coast, where New Bolton clearly stands a cut above the competition. This enthusiastic horse racing community captures the imagination of the national sports media, and is thrust into the spotlight every time a colt threatens to win the vaunted Triple Crown -- the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.
With such a high-profile injury, the excellence that New Bolton is known for was certainly on display while Barbaro's tragic story captivated the entire nation.
When the horse fell, "there was no discussion" about where to take it, said Gail Luciani, head of New Bolton's communications office. "The decision was made immediately."
And that decision was not a hard one to make. New Bolton sees roughly 6,000 cases per year, and its web site boasts of employing "the largest nursing staff of any vet school in the world."
The Widener Veterinary Hospital, which Luciani described as "a tertiary care facility for large animals, especially horses," has been on the cutting edge for years.
New Bolton boasts what it calls the Equine Sports Medicine and Imaging Section, the only institution of its kind located in a veterinary center.
Perhaps most importantly for Barbaro, the hospital caters specifically to horses that compete athletically. The section evaluates poor performance in unhurt horses as well as providing care to injured animals referred from elsewhere. Those referrals, according to Penn Vet, come from as far away as Canada and southern Florida.
And the entire center is used to operating under the spotlight, having handled high-profile cases for years.
"I'm happy to say that the hospital has been running seamlessly with all the media attention," Luciani said.
In addition, the center does plenty of work outside the world of animal treatment, also working to improve the health of entire animal populations.
All of this helps contribute to the reputation of one of Penn's least-known teaching and research schools.
Barbaro's chances of survival are still estimated at around 50 percent by experts, and they insist that the horse's fate will not be certain for weeks. But with a pall cast over one of the most enduring sporting events in America, it took only a dedicated group of workers to find a reason for hope in the midst of disappointment.
"Yes, this is a business," said Dan Rosenberg, president of a horse-breedig farm in Kentucky, to the Associated Press. "But at the same time if you don't care about them, then you can't do this."
